The football blog for fans of all clubs
With the SPL fixtures announced, another top flight season in Scotland is just around the corner, but will the upcoming campaign mirror the previous one? Champions Celtic kick off their title defence with a grudge match at home to Hearts, while fierce rivals Rangers travel to Motherwell on the opening day. After a magnificent undefeated […]
Oh boy, Luis Suarez does seem to thrive off playing the pantomime villain, doesn’t he? Newspaper headline writers up and down the country must have been ready to type out some “Italian Job” headline. Few would have imagined they’d have been writing about Jaws by the end of Italy v Uruguay. Both teams were in […]
The most significant rule change in the modern era of football has been the abolition of the back pass. It changed the game overnight. No longer could defenders being pressed by attackers use the goalkeeper as a get out of jail free card. A pass to the goalkeeper now meant the ball remained in play, […]
Admittedly, on the surface, this is not a vintage game. It was a comfortable 2-0 victory to France. Not an underdog win for the West Africans, not a cricket score for Les Bleus, but a professional, clinical 2-0 victory. So why am I writing about this game? Good question, valued reader. I am discussing this […]
Friday, June 23rd Universidad San Martin de Porres vs Academia Cantolao Essentially a neutral game due to both teams playing at the Miguel Grau in Callao for their home games. One team is bottom (Cantolao), and the other one is the penultimate team (San Martin). Both will feel they can win, but if I had […]
Yup, that’s a whole lot of nationalities in that headline. Let’s dissect it a bit. In 1998 Romania had a forward named Violel Moldovan (who is, in fact, not from the nation of Moldova.) He scored a goal against England, which saw the Three Lions defeated in the group stage, putting their tournament in jeopardy. […]
He had prepared for this moment for years. He had studied, listened, watched and taken it all in. He had shrugged off the pressure, the scrutiny that came from being the son of one of the greats. āItās time for a changeā he states. Jordi Cruyff, new Maccabi Tel Aviv manager is ready for the […]
NYC FC 2-1 Seattle Sounders David Villa scored twice as NYC battled back from a goal down to win 2-1 and move up to third in the Eastern Conference. Seattle opened the scoring through Cristian Roldan on 40 minutes with a well worked goal that left Roldan to burst through and slot low past Sean […]
On Tuesday, a legend of the game of football passed away rather suddenly at the young age of 68. This man was a manager extraordinaire, a giant of the game whose legacy will long outlive him. However, many people, even football fans, will not recognize the name Tony DiCicco and fewer will realise his impact. […]
The eyes of the world were fixed upon the Ecopa Stadium on June 21st, 2002. It was the first “clash of the titans” fixture of the World Cup knockouts. England slogged their way through a tricky group with Argentina, Sweden and Nigeria, before dismantling Denmark. Brazil were on scintillating form in Korea and Japan, scoring […]
Thursday, June 15 Colon 2-1 San Lorenzo We kicked round 28 off in Santa Fe as Colon were hosting San Lorenzo. El Ciclon are still looking for a Copa Libertadores spot. Therefore, a win was a must. San Lorenzo dominated the match and had plenty of chances but failed to convert them. Colon had a […]
This weekend we had the 8th round of the Brazilian Championship. Of the 10 matches, we hit 6 in our predictions (better than last round). See below a summary of the main matches of the round: Fluminense 2-2 Flamengo The Flamengo team pressed for the majority of the match, but Fluminense, with its counter-attackingĀ speed, managed […]
Italy won the World Cup in staggeringly impressive form back in 2006, and, despite an underwhelming Euro 2008 campaign, were confident heading into Group F in 2010. They were confident because they had the bulk of their World Cup 2006 squad still in their ranks, their manager, Marcello Lippi, who had rejoined the coaching set […]
The erstwhile season is over and now begins the football equivalent of dumping your partner and searching for a better model. And it is in Spain where this gauntlet has been taken up with fervent gusto. Clubs have been figuratively marauding around the singles bar that is the managerial market and hooking up with their […]
Poor Ghana. Poor poor Ghana. We all know the story. Ghana get the ball in the box, take a shot and find it blocked on the line by the hand of an opposition players hand. Yup, pretty much the whole world agreed that Luis Suarez was a monster for what he did. But let’s back […]
Action resumed in both the Premier and First Divisions over the weekend in the SSE Airtricity League but script remains the same. Cork City won and continue to lead the Premier, Waterford won and lead the First and much to my frustration Sligo Rovers drew another crunch relegation game ā again! Starting with Rovers because […]
An Introduction Those who know me on a personal level know that my opinions on many things donāt tend to go along with the majority. Some say Iām just wired differently, some think itās a subconscious reflex just to naturally be ācontraryā. Through this occasional feature I hope to provoke some discussion by laying out […]
It is hard to credit now but in the 1960ās and the early 1970ās Blackpool was almost the British equivalent of Las Vegas with its swinging nightlife and range of exotic attractions that catered for almost every need. Most football teams, from London and the South, enjoyed playing against Blackpool because an overnight stay was […]
Italy v South Korea. 2002. The Daejeon World Cup Stadium. Perhaps one of the most controversial games in the history of the World Cup. To some, it was a plucky underdog nation beating one of the greatest teams in the world in front of a passionate, colour-coordinated fan base. To the majority, it was one […]
After seven rounds of Brazilian Championship, the question is: Who can stop Gremio and Corinthians? Both teams are leading the championship, with Corinthians and there counter-attack style, one point ahead of Gremio, with there touch and control style. Of the 10 matches, we hit 5 in our predictions (so-so, okā¦). Below a summary of the […]
